Addicted to FMhttps://www.addictedtofm.com
Training and Tactics CornerTue, 06 Feb 2018 02:08:29 +0000en-UShourly1120759797The Comprehensive Guide to my Videos on Football Managerhttps://www.addictedtofm.com/comprehensive-guide-videos-football-manager/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/comprehensive-guide-videos-football-manager/#respondMon, 05 Feb 2018 16:19:01 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3635Even with the book on Football Manager and all the videos that I have done on Bustthenet the video channel , I have noticed that people sometimes, and a visual aid is needed. So, I have done a consolidated post where I link chapters from the book to suitable videos. These should help people understand how I approach the game. I hope that it helps you with the game. And if you need more information on how to get the book, you get it free when you support the channel on Patreon. However if you can’t support me on Patreon, don’t fret, I did this list especially for you, so that the content that is taken from the book and covered in videos is now collated into a list. There is so much more from the book that I want to add, but that will take time. Meanwhile, I hope you find this helpful. Section One – The Tactical Creator This section of the book breaks down the tactical creator explaining its elements and how they all fit together. The most relevant videos that link to this chapter are: – How to use the Tactical Creator: – How to Master [...]

]]>Even with the book on Football Manager and all the videos that I have done on Bustthenet the video channel , I have noticed that people sometimes, and a visual aid is needed. So, I have done a consolidated post where I link chapters from the book to suitable videos. These should help people understand how I approach the game. I hope that it helps you with the game. And if you need more information on how to get the book, you get it free when you support the channel on Patreon. However if you can’t support me on Patreon, don’t fret, I did this list especially for you, so that the content that is taken from the book and covered in videos is now collated into a list. There is so much more from the book that I want to add, but that will take time.

Meanwhile, I hope you find this helpful.

Section One – The Tactical Creator

This section of the book breaks down the tactical creator explaining its elements and how they all fit together. The most relevant videos that link to this chapter are:

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/comprehensive-guide-videos-football-manager/feed/03635Introducing Super-systems in Football Managerhttps://www.addictedtofm.com/supersystems-football-manager/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/supersystems-football-manager/#commentsMon, 01 Jan 2018 19:14:24 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3603You may already be doing this in its simplest form. A home and away tactic. Its a system of play. Now what I call Super-systems aren’t too different, they just have a load of options. And thats what Super-systems are in football manager. They are a systematic series of match plans you have that you can turn to when certain conditions are met. Will you be using match plans? You could, which theoretically would make you play like the AI. The AI changes tactics based on time, score or an in game event like losing a player. My super-systems in itself are something the AI isn’t doing at the moment. The tools are there, but for some reason the AI does not use the full suite. We need to observe the game and make astute choices based on how the opposition are playing. Why super-system and not super-tactic? Scramjet and Diablo are two of the greatest super-tactics in the history of the game. Both ripped the game apart and allowed you to overachieve with almost any squad. With win rates exceeding 80%, you rarely lost a game. Super-tactics don’t exist, the match engine flaws that allow you to consistently score [...]

]]>You may already be doing this in its simplest form. A home and away tactic. Its a system of play. Now what I call Super-systems aren’t too different, they just have a load of options. And thats what Super-systems are in football manager. They are a systematic series of match plans you have that you can turn to when certain conditions are met. Will you be using match plans? You could, which theoretically would make you play like the AI. The AI changes tactics based on time, score or an in game event like losing a player. My super-systems in itself are something the AI isn’t doing at the moment. The tools are there, but for some reason the AI does not use the full suite. We need to observe the game and make astute choices based on how the opposition are playing.

Why super-system and not super-tactic? Scramjet and Diablo are two of the greatest super-tactics in the history of the game. Both ripped the game apart and allowed you to overachieve with almost any squad. With win rates exceeding 80%, you rarely lost a game. Super-tactics don’t exist, the match engine flaws that allow you to consistently score the same way every game against any team simply does not happen 100% of the time. There are good tactics out there, but they all need specific kinds of players in specific positions. You may beat teams better than you some of the time, but not every time. And you certainly won’t be able to get Preston North End hammering Real Madrid 8 nil in their first season.

In my opinion the best way to play the game isn’t to search for that one tactic to rule them all; it’s for your to develop a system of play where you can adapt. And this means having several plans. In the modern game, managers frequently mix things up when their plan A goes out the window, even the AI has a few plans up its sleeve. Why can’t you?

Since the tactical creator was created, I started coining the term “Super-system”. This isn’t just a super-tactic, but it’s a way of playing the game that always us to outperform the opposition within the same playing field as the AI. To be accepted as a super-tactic, it has to win nearly all the time, with at least an 80% win rate. That’s what Scramjet and Diablo were doing. To get this done, these tactics would exploit a major flaw in the engine, and then rip it apart. Another condition for it to be accepted as a super-tactic would be the currently impossible requirement of using obviously inferior players against the opposition.

Today it’s a lot harder to find consistent match engine weakness, where you can score the same kind of goals in every game in exactly the same way. Scoring from crosses now may seem easier, but these can be still defended. So it’s not a match engine flaw. There are people who claim that 3 striker systems are overpowering, but 3 striker systems have always been strong. My favourite systems have all involved 3 man attacking patterns in the final third leading the charge.

To win games you have to beat an opponent which is willing to play with alternative plans. The opposition starts with a formation, based on some expectation in the game. If that is not met within a certain frame, or if it suddenly finds itself a goal down, it goes to its alternative plan. Away from home, it may start a lot more conservatively and at home it may be more aggressive.

So in order for us to win with some consistency I suggest coming up with super-system . This is a style of play that I have discussed in most videos. In my Ajax Diaries save on Youtube, I use a super-system and I do the same with Kingstonian in my lower league save.

A super-system, in its simplest form, is having a Plan A, Plan B and maybe even a Plan C. Sounds simple, but the way you do it may not be very different from me. Some managers have a home and an away system, and that can work. Others play the same tactic but make minor role or duty changes because of some strategic swing they may be trying to achieve. And others like me combine all three into a holistic plan that’s built around assembling a team that gives you the options you need. It can be done at any level of the game, you just need to come up with a plan. You can’t develop multiple plans to win without getting some stuff done first.

Here we need to distinguish between changing for the sake of it and making strategic choices. When you change formations or roles without knowing why and win, that’s luck. When you make a change because you want to counter something and win, thats skill. Before you can even begin to come up with a successful system of play, you need to get some things done right, this starts with squad building

If you are managing an LLM squad, your choices are limited to what you can find, but remember that attributes make the player. If a defender has the right attributes to play as a defensive midfielder, he can. He may not be the best, but his attributes may be enough to get the job done. So don’t get hung up on role suitability. The biggest tip i can give anyone is that you will need to think about building steel into your side. So the hunt for players will begin by identifying players who can play as defensive midfielders, or central midfielders who can do a defensive duty, move up and down in attack. You want to find two who have solid positioning and can do a good defensive job and two more who are more balanced. I am not suggesting fielding all of them, but we want squad that gives us options, allowing us to create our Plans.

Defensive midfielders who have good positioning, decisions and off the ball make great options for support roles or even attacking roles as well. They can even be retrained as inverted wingbacks. Thats a lot of role options. Why am I focusing on midfield? This is the most important part of the pitch to control.

Having a squad of at least 4 players who can win the ball in midfield makes a big difference in your game. This gives you the option of playing a 4231, 4132, 433, 442, 4141, 3142, 352. The formations you can ultimately play will depend on the rest of the players you have.

The second role that I find very handy is the wing back role. For this role i do not specifically go out looking for wing backs, I actually look for wingers, who can dribble, cross, have great off the ball and fantastic acceleration for their level. Now when I find these players then make a decision on whether they have the firepower to play as inside forwards or wingers. If they have low finishing, I immediately retrain them to be wingbacks. Now I have at least one flying wingback. Remember, the defensive midfielders, they’re the steel that allow the retrained wingbacks be the sharp end of the sword.

Being able to think creatively about the roles your players can fulfil is the first and vital step in building any kind of super-system. After I get this done, I worry about the rest of the team, and i can tell you this much. You get this right the rest is easy, cos you’re looking for people to either lock down the flanks, attack space and score goals or create chances for others. You will notice that top teams around the world, usually have a very strong wingback or a superb midfield. Manchester City have Fabian Delph who is a defensive midfielder who plays as an Inverted wing back, Kyle Walker who bomb down the flanks, and options in midfield to either creatively break down a side or lock them down. The use of an IWB allows them to add security in midfield allowing David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne to boss midfield.

BUILDING SUPER-SYSTEMS

In order for you to build your system you need to understand how your team stacks up to the rest of the league. In my Getting Started with Club series, I always do a Squad Comparison, where i compare the team to the rest. Here we want to find out our weaknesses and strengths. Randomly choosing formations won’t work, you need a strategy that gives your strikers a steady supply of good deliveries. And, you need to think of ways to attack other teams areas of weaknesses.

For example, I like to find out the positioning and acceleration attributes of defenders. And over the course of the season I will try and find out how vulnerable each team is down the flanks. The reason is simple: In football, the wings are one of the best places to overload. You want to overload one side of the pitch allowing your attacking wingbacks to romp down the other. This gives us one attacking option, and it’s one of the deadliest in football. When wing backs get into dangerous crossing positions, it usually allows more players to attack the box. So if my wing backs have great acceleration and crossing, they can beat defences with poor acceleration and positioning, and get themselves into the perfect position to deliver a good cross. Its no wonder that since FM15, my wing backs have consistently achieved 20+ assists in a season.

Now we look at how we can build play up on the other side of the pitch with players who can hold the ball up inviting the opposition to the, thereby pulling a defence out of shape. With my defensively minded midfield, I know that we will have good positioning to win the ball when we defend, I now just need to think of of areas of midfield I need more creative players on.

4132 Super-system

After we have a created the basic squad requirement, we begin formulating our plans. We can either go with one tactic or a combination of options. Understanding what all your players can do becomes vital. We can start with this 4132, its a simple system. Every system has strengths and weaknesses. You need to know what your tactic can do, and how it is vulnerable to certain systems. The 4132 is great defensively but can struggle if you don’t do enough to protect the flanks. If you can sort this out, you can launch quick counters using the two man strike force to lead the way, or you could even push up and camp and get one or more fullbacks to attack the flanks. Knowing how to tweak it is a matter of knowing how the opposition tactic is going to play. If the AI is building play down one way, you could decide to lock down one flank and go down the other. You could place ball winners in midfield on the side they have playmakers to give their creators more pressure. Sometimes what we need to do are simple fixes. There are plenty of little things your system can do, understanding how to do them will give you a system of play. Let’s take a few examples ultimately building up to a super system.

Plan A

We can start with it on Standard/ Structured, which will allow fairly fast transitions without overcommitting too many players in attack. It’s not a risky approach, but we haven’t overcommitted to attack, depending largely on our two strikers to do something with the ball. Here our Plan A is to suss the opposition.

When things don’t go according to plan, we need to understand why before we make a change. It could be as simple as a player underperforming or as complex as a failure to build play up successfully from defence into an attempt at goal. Here we need to pay attention to transitions, identify where play is breaking down, and then ask the question : Is it underperformance, or is the other side, simply not allowing us to play? I have done things like swapping roles around to create a mirror image of my tactic. Here it could be simple thing like a playmaker is being shut of the game because of aggressive closing down on one side of the pitch, so i just move my system around and go down the other side.

This is a simple change but it requires me paying attention to whats going on and why. Other things I could do, would be to increase Shape to get more players involved in transitions.

Plan B

Raise Mentality, Change Duty to push our wingback into attack

If we find that we are not getting enough of the ball, then we want to step it up. Perhaps our players aren’t trying early to close down an opponent. A mentality change, affects closing down, defensive line, passing directness. So a shift in mentality increases these elements. We can also add a bit more bit and get the wingback higher on the pitch. We leave our defensive line unchanged to compensate for the risk we are taking and we hold back a shape change.

Plan C

Raise Mentality, Change Shape to Fluid, Change Duty, Increase Width

Assume the opposition don’t want to leave their half. We could go camping, by changing shape we get more players in transitions because more of them are closer in terms of mentality. We get the wingback to go more attacking and we increase width to encourage our players to use the flanks.

Plan D

Formation Change

A formation change is not always recommended, but sometimes you may need to do it because of circumstances beyond your control. Here, you need to understand why you have to make the change. Let’s take a random example. Maybe we were in game where the opposition are playing with a 4231 and are able to get their fullbacks high up the pitch delivering crosses. This is a bad thing, cos anytime you see fullbacks bombing up in a 4231, you are in trouble. Its a weakness of the 4132, so we have our extreme plan, switch to a 433.

433 Narrow

Why switch? Here my 4132, will obviously be weak against teams that romp down the flanks, the 433 is actually a pretty interesting counter, because the 3 man midfield can handle a 2 man midfield, depending on the number of support roles in the final third of the 4231. Either way, the 3 man strike force now has the capacity of keeping their backline at bay. There are various permutations of a 433, the orthodox one and the more conservative 41221. Here we can easily put pressure on their backline, keep their fullbacks in check and try and reassert. The good thing here, against an attacking 4231 that leaves gaps with attacking backs, our 3 man strike force will have spaces they can exploit.

To give some context, in a recent Champions Cup knockout game against Chelsea ( the game calls it “Champions Cup” not me)we had to put this to practice. We started the match with a 4132 and took the lead against their 343. We scored a beauty of a goal through patient buildup play and conceded one from a counter attack.

Seeing that the opposition were having free rein down the flanks, I decided to switch it up and go to a system using the same players that focused attacks down their flanks. We were hoping now to get their wide midfielders back defending thus isolating their 3 man attack force.

We managed to put the pressure back on them, and got the winning goal from open play. A truly memorable win by Ajax over Chelsea away from home. Our changes were calculated to target their fullbacks and side midfielders, it was a super-system with options.

Ajax Supersystem

When we have a squad with depth we have options, one of my favourite ways of playing is to be able to switch a 4132 to a 4312 or a 433 .The beauty of some systems is that you can easily morph at will. The reason why most people hesitate is because they worry about tactical familiarity. When you keep the 3 man midfield and just change a few things around, most of your partnerships remain, furthermore, you also get a chance to change the emphasis of play. There’s one thing I am absolutely sure about, most of you are already playing with your own super-systems. What are you using?

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/supersystems-football-manager/feed/13603Making the Most of Player Attributes and Traits in FM18https://www.addictedtofm.com/making-player-traits-attributes-fm18/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/making-player-traits-attributes-fm18/#respondSun, 10 Dec 2017 18:42:41 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3590Understanding player attributes and player traits is the first step in unlocking and understanding each role in the game. Understanding what attributes do, help you see what a team is capable of. This in turn can help us create unique styles based on a pattern of attributes which many people have identified as a “Club DNA”. This is a list of attributes that define the kind of players you are looking for and in turn this can define how your side plays. The term was introduced by someone on the forums way back in FM12. For example if you are non-league side and eager to over achieve, focusing on physical attributes will allow your team to muscle its way to success. You can make your side defiant in defending and deadly at destroying opponents defences, by choosing key outfield players with good acceleration. These players can exploit spaces behind defensive lines when you are on the counter. Teams with low composure and anticipation will be vulnerable to a high defensive line which you can utilise with a defensive strategy, minimising your risk while increasing the pressure on the opposite team. You increase pressure on the opposite team, by having outfield [...]

]]>Understanding player attributes and player traits is the first step in unlocking and understanding each role in the game. Understanding what attributes do, help you see what a team is capable of. This in turn can help us create unique styles based on a pattern of attributes which many people have identified as a “Club DNA”. This is a list of attributes that define the kind of players you are looking for and in turn this can define how your side plays. The term was introduced by someone on the forums way back in FM12.

For example if you are non-league side and eager to over achieve, focusing on physical attributes will allow your team to muscle its way to success. You can make your side defiant in defending and deadly at destroying opponents defences, by choosing key outfield players with good acceleration. These players can exploit spaces behind defensive lines when you are on the counter. Teams with low composure and anticipation will be vulnerable to a high defensive line which you can utilise with a defensive strategy, minimising your risk while increasing the pressure on the opposite team. You increase pressure on the opposite team, by having outfield players with high acceleration and off the ball to run at them on the break.

Once you have a clear idea what your Club DNA is, the next step is understanding the roles. The in-game tool tips describe each role well, but here’s a tip. When you are in doubt, open the edit instructions for each role.

Let’s take the example of a Shadow Striker.

The in-game description states that this is a player that operates as the main goal scoring threat. He works with a deep-lying forward and aggressively moves forward into goal-scoring positions and looks to close down opposing players when not having the ball. If you try to edit his instructions you will notice all these personal instructions are locked out:

• Closing down, Move Into Channels, Dribble More, More Risky Passes

This gives you the indication that this player takes risks, moves into vertical spaces and works really hard to pressure the opposition.

To find out what kind of player fits this bill via attributes, just assign one of your players to be trained as a Shadow Striker. When you go to the Player Profile page, there is a button on the right of his attributes that allows you to see what attributes are important for the role. In the case of the Shadow Striker he has 16 attributes. There are some key attributes and some preferable ones, and there are some custom skins that indicate these if you are keen to find out.

The next step is setting up some common qualities in your side. I usually like referring to this as Core Attributes. This sets up the broad attributes you need for the Defend/Support and Attack roles in your side. Our focus in this article is seeing how Player Traits can help us produce unique styles of play in our players, this in turn can have a pretty big impact on how our tactics play out.

PLAYER TRAITS (PPM)

Player Traits ( this used to be called Player Preferred Moves) are those special extras that players are capable of doing in a match. These can give each role a unique flavour. For instance, you can tell a player to stay wide and dribble down the flanks, or you can teach a central midfielder to drop back and dictate play. It’s a good tool to create unique styles of play. This should always be the last thing you focus on since it can take almost 6 months for a ppm to be learned.

Two player traits have been added to FM18. These are “ Early Crosses” and “Brings Ball out of Defence”.

Sports Interactive has now made a game that allows for tactical identity to come from PPMs in the game. These allow you to use specific players to create unique styles of football.

Brings ball out of Defence (BBOOD) is a great trait for defenders to learn. It adds another dynamic to 3 man defences, allowing players to surge forward with the ball playing passes and dictating play. It is an PPM that gets us to develop tactics that allow us to turn our defenders into pivots for ball possession, and is a useful trait for players to learn. A defender will need good decisions, first touch, dribbling and vision to pull this trait off well.

Crosses early solves another problem in the game. Wingers on attack duty only have one option which is to cross from the byeline. Sometimes you may want to create some diversity in your tactic, so this becomes a good ppm to learn if you opting to create varied crossing styles within your own game.

Is there a preferred set for certain players? This is where it gets rather complicated. Personally I believe its possible but very difficult, which is why my answer will be that there is no pre-set list of PPMs per position. You need to look at your roles in the team and then determine what PPMs will help enhance that position. And that’s the best way forward. Don’t stick in PPM for the sake of it, always consider the bigger picture of how your side should play. I can go entire seasons without even bothering to train PPMs in players. I usually wait till I find the right combination of players in my youth team. If I find that this will be core of my future team. That’s when I begin. Let’s try one example

I have an explosive fullback down the right who’s the focus of many of my attacks and a winger on the left who rips defences to shreds. To get these guys the latitude they need I know I need to have someone in the middle of the park setting the tempo for the whole game and switching defence to attack. Its very much how Barcelona play. When they have the ball in their half they pass it around casually, but then a switch goes off in midfield and suddenly they start moving the ball around at lightning pace to unlock defences.

Here I would be looking to train a player to Dictate Tempo, Switch Ball to Other Flanks and Play Killer Ball.

Some PPMs can be taught by coaches and others can only be learnt via tutoring. A 17 year old player can learn 5 PPMs by the time he is 20, and by then he should have been with the club for 3 seasons earning home grown status. By then you can either start giving him time with the first team, or continue his development. Personally I continue players development, making sure they are capable in at least two positions. That takes one season, and you can put the player on loan once he’s ready and force the loaning club to play him in the position you want.

Some people may dislike training Player Traits, but imagine the variety of play you can achieve. To give you an example I had a defender who could also play as a midfielder, at the age of 17 I got him to learn these player traits, and he naturally developed a very good passing game.

You can teach players these traits and you can also get them to unlearn them. One thing you will need to do is to ensure that you understand your tactic first before applying player traits. I have certain guidelines that I follow:

I will get my playmakers to learn player traits that encourage them to dictate the game and look for killer passes, and I will also get players to knock the ball past opponent if they have good acceleration. In all cases I will understand my tactical system first before applying any player traits in the game. While they can be useful in creating styles, thoughtlessly applying them can also unbalance your system.

So the next time you are evaluating your squad, take a step back and look at the big picture that comes with understanding how player traits can influence the performance of a player. Do you have any players with unique player trait combinations in your game? And don’t forget to follow the adventures of my Ajax team on FM18 to see how we incorporate this and other strategies into the development of our youth players.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/making-player-traits-attributes-fm18/feed/03590Curry for 2 – The 4132 Explainedhttps://www.addictedtofm.com/curry-2-4132-explained/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/curry-2-4132-explained/#commentsFri, 03 Nov 2017 15:02:42 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=35444132 Explained This formation is one of the best defensive systems in the game, surprisingly it can also turn in a good camping system, even an attacking one. With the addition of more roles in FM18, we now have the option of doing away with the central midfielder on support and going with the Carrilero. This is a simple role in midfield, meant to keep the ball shuttling between defence and attack. A hardworking role when applied to the right players, its one that can shore up narrow systems. We shall avoid going into the history of this role, what we will be doing is applying it to a specific formation and giving it several flavours. It’s a role used in systems that are narrow and can even be used as part of a 3 man trident midfield that features 2 central midfielders and a holding defensive midfielder. Here though we are focusing on a variant of the 442 diamond – the narrow 4132. The narrow 4132 is a system that has obvious weaknesses. The lack of an attacking midfielder makes it a challenge to control the zone in front of the opposition goal, however its conservative midfield allows it [...]

This formation is one of the best defensive systems in the game, surprisingly it can also turn in a good camping system, even an attacking one. With the addition of more roles in FM18, we now have the option of doing away with the central midfielder on support and going with the Carrilero. This is a simple role in midfield, meant to keep the ball shuttling between defence and attack. A hardworking role when applied to the right players, its one that can shore up narrow systems.

We shall avoid going into the history of this role, what we will be doing is applying it to a specific formation and giving it several flavours. It’s a role used in systems that are narrow and can even be used as part of a 3 man trident midfield that features 2 central midfielders and a holding defensive midfielder. Here though we are focusing on a variant of the 442 diamond – the narrow 4132.

The narrow 4132 is a system that has obvious weaknesses. The lack of an attacking midfielder makes it a challenge to control the zone in front of the opposition goal, however its conservative midfield allows it to soak pressure and hit teams on the counter. It can also turn itself into a fairly good system that camps in the opponents. Understanding how to work the space on the flanks is the key to making this system work.

When played on lower mentalities, defenders tend to tuck inside during defensive transitions putting a greater burden on central defenders to clear the ball when crosses inevitably come in. This is a necessary side effect of playing defensively. Here we want to make sure that we address how our players as a unit handle crosses.

Defensive Aspects

The 4132 has a solid backline, the absence of advanced wingers lends more pressure to defending its own flanks. Here what we want to do is focus on getting several attributes sorted to iron out certain risks. If we opt to play narrow we need to deal with crosses. Central defenders will then have to have good positioning, anticipation, concentration, jumping reach and heading. Once again, I recommend that you assess your own team vs the league as the requirements can easily be met when playing on any level. At conference levels you would be looking at securing players with at least 9-11, in these attributes. I have used the 4132 consistently at lower league levels and have applied the same rationale to choosing players.

In midfield we will use 3 players to help control the middle of the park. These players need good positioning, composure, passing, tackling determination, work rate, bravery, concentration. This would be the lowest denominator of attributes we would consider, other attributes can only enhance their attacking efficacy which is certainly an option if you have those kind of players in your squad. Don’t forget a carrilero can still be a dangerous passer of the ball if he has good decisions, vision and flair.

By ensuring we have the right combination of players we should do enough to secure the flanks.

It would be prudent at this time to reinforce how the carrileros will defend midfield. They are not expected to play like box to box midfielders, so we can expect them to marshal the area between defence and attack.

Attacking Aspects

The attacking aspects depend on the kind of variation you want in attack. Here we will be looking at 3 styles of attacking play to develop:

We want to see wing backs attacking the flanks, delivering crosses

Deep lying playmaker launching defence splitting passes when we are defending deep and trying to counter

CM(A) working together with the Carrileros to create overloads dragging defences around and unlocking passing options for the wing backs

Roles

Sweeper Keeper Defend – We have gone with the sweeper keeper on defend because it gives us the option to use a goalkeeper to do distribution if needed. With the changes to distribution we could be rewarded with those who have good vision and kicking. No PIs will be issued.

Wing back (A) Left flankWing back (A) Right flank

Here we have gone with a double flank attack. This is risky and if users are concerned about the risk then its perfectly conceivable to use the option of a FB(D) on one of the flanks. I would recommend using the right back for this option. Both wing backs are assigned the player instruction : Direct Passes and Play More Risky Passes. This helps us get the heat seeker passes we require.

Central Defender (D)Central Defender (D)

Here both central defenders have been assigned defend duties, we want to ensure that at least one of them has good jumping reach in access of the league average. This would ensure that we always have one player who is strong enough to deal with crosses. We can always combine a slow fast defender.

Deep Lying Playmaker (D)

This is the first major creator in the system. He needs to be solid at winning the ball and redistributing it. As one of the main creators we will be turning to him when defending deep to launch attacks from deep. We now have 3 players ideally positioned to launch attacks from deep when we are defending. He too is assigned More Direct Passes and More Risky Passes. The DLP should have the player traits: Dictate Tempo, Plays Killer Passes and Switch Ball to Other flank

Carrilero (Support)Attacking Playmaker (A)Carrilero (Support)

This is the engine room that will help keep control of the ball and help us do overloads. The carrileros are expected to defend the flanks, but by playing with wing backs we could leave ourselves exposed. The demands on the two central defenders and the DLP are high. Here if you have a side that is average, consider keeping one Wingback on defend and employing a lopsided 4132. Once again I recommend keeping the right back on defend, if that is the case. Carrilero PIs : Shoot Less Often.

The attacking playmaker needs to have very good off the ball, dribbling, passing, balance, vision, first touch, finishing and composure. We want him to keep pressure on the defence with his ability to hold onto the back and work the space. We will also look to him to arrive late in the box. He will be given the PIs: Get Further Forward and More Direct Passes

False 9 and Poacher/Complete Forward (S)

Here we have the option of using various combinations.

In front we require the services of a False 9 who can move between defenders and play risky passes. The use of the poacher allows us to have one player upfront who will play simple passes and this will help get the wing back on the right involved if we end up camping. His risk free passing will also avoid unnecessary turnovers of the ball in the opponents half.

The False 9 needs to be good at holding the ball, and working the spaces with the ball. He requires dribbling, first touch, composure, work rate, teamwork, agility, balance, decision finishing and composure.

In versions of the 4132 where I like more unpredictability and where I opt to camp for large periods of time, I do prefer the use of a complete forward on support duty combining with a false 9.

Different ways in playing the system:

Counter attacking intelligently, playing low risk football.

Here we want to see the team keep the ball well, but when the ball lands at the assigned players we want them to use their decision making to launch counters.

In the Counter Version, the WB(D) will not have the option to take risky passes.

Camping 4132, high risk style played in the opponents half.

This version runs the risk of opening up your flanks to gain the reward of sustained pressure in the opponents half. Can be used by teams with solid players, but it will require speedier defences and more defensively intelligent central defenders. In this version, we need to be very careful in how we use the offside trap. If the AI turns to a deep 424 or a 424 late in the game, this system will be vulnerable.

Attacking 4132.

I may call it attacking but don’t get confused when I use the mentality Control. In this version, the goal is quick transitions. Its a lower risk approach than the camping version, however here we are committing fewer bodies in transitions and are aiming to use our wing backs as the primary delivery of threat into the box.

The 4132 has consistently been one of the best systems I’ve used in lower league football, it can be defensively solid, and with two strikers it has potent counter attacking potential. The counter attacking elements in the tactic come from the passing instructions I have applied and the shape thats used. Naturally some teams may struggle to defend both flanks, in such cases I typically revert to the lopsided attack option of locking down one wing back and going for a defend duty there. There may be occasions when some may be tempted to get the carrilero to close down more than normal. Here I would suggest looking carefully at his determination, work rate and bravery to see if these attributes are poor. If there is a need to adjust his closing down instructions, please be aware that we do not want to see the carrilero switch flanks. I will be doing videos on these in future play throughs and plan to show other ways I can adapt this to specific opposition using some of the new cool tools in the game.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/curry-2-4132-explained/feed/33544Art of Retraininghttps://www.addictedtofm.com/art-of-retraining/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/art-of-retraining/#commentsTue, 08 Aug 2017 07:51:14 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3496Have you ever played a game and struggled to find players for a specific position? Try retraining them instead. A common issue I have faced is finding the right player for my system. There are hundreds of guides out there that spell out the best attributes you need for specific positions. And, once we factor in all the necessary attributes, then it becomes very challenging to find them. So what do we do? There have been many successful examples of players who have been retrained. Let’s take Jordi Alba for example. He started initially as a left winger. Blessed with exceptional pace and with his marauding style he was turned into a fullback. Another example Rio Ferdinand, his technical abilities on the ball convinced coaches that he would make an exceptional ball playing defender. We can do the same thing in today’s game. If you’re faced with a selection dilemma, you can always play someone out of position. As long as he has the right attributes for the position, just re-train him. Over time he will surprise you. A favourite strategy of mine is to look for players between the ages of 18-21 who are exceptionally good at something and [...]

]]>Have you ever played a game and struggled to find players for a specific position? Try retraining them instead. A common issue I have faced is finding the right player for my system. There are hundreds of guides out there that spell out the best attributes you need for specific positions. And, once we factor in all the necessary attributes, then it becomes very challenging to find them. So what do we do?

There have been many successful examples of players who have been retrained. Let’s take Jordi Alba for example. He started initially as a left winger. Blessed with exceptional pace and with his marauding style he was turned into a fullback. Another example Rio Ferdinand, his technical abilities on the ball convinced coaches that he would make an exceptional ball playing defender.

We can do the same thing in today’s game. If you’re faced with a selection dilemma, you can always play someone out of position. As long as he has the right attributes for the position, just re-train him. Over time he will surprise you. A favourite strategy of mine is to look for players between the ages of 18-21 who are exceptionally good at something and retraining them. Let’s take this example.

Sergio Zuniga was discovered by my scouts, they rated him highly as a defensive midfielder with bags of potential as a playmaker. I however saw the potential of turning him into a play-making fullback who could launch defence splitting passes from the back. The moment we signed him up we started retraining him as an Inverted Wing Back.

To get the best of your player, all you need to do is decide how you want him to play within your system and begin choosing the right training program for him. So we chose the Inverted Wing Back training program because it will work on the attributes that will help him play in that position. These include, decisions and work rate.

The second step you need to take is to ensure you play him in that position. Regardless of whether you want to play him as an Inverted Wing back or a Full Back, you need to play him in that fullback slot in your tactical system. So we started playing him as a Fullback in some matches and in other matches he played as an Inverted Wingback. It took him 6 months to become a natural in his position.

Sergio has already won 2 Young Player of the Month awards with average performances of 7.4 playing within a 442 system that suits him. We couldn’t find good players who were solid and cheap but went around that limitation by finding defensive midfielders who could be retrained and will look forward to doing something different with our fullback on the left. We’re now looking for a marauding winger. So the next time you are struggling to fit the right player into your system think of retraining.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/art-of-retraining/feed/13496Gloucester’s Adventures with a 442https://www.addictedtofm.com/gloucesters-adventures-442/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/gloucesters-adventures-442/#commentsFri, 04 Aug 2017 14:45:08 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3463In large part this journey by GCFC to play a 442 began with @Nic Madden who thankfully appeared on one of my shows playing a bog basic 442 with England, without any Team Instructions and only one player instruction assigned to a Goal Keeper. It turned out to be a marvellous match, perhaps Malta may not be the perfect test, however, the transitions England came up with provided me with some precious insight. There are several ways we can approach the game. We can either become Jose Mourinho or Rafa Benitez and opt to load over team with a myriad of PIs and TIs and get them to play a specific style of football or we can choose to allow the roles to breathe. It was fun and that inspired Mikey to send in his 442 to my channel which we quickly tried. Unfortunately for us, while we managed to close out the league with the title, we fell to a 3-0 defeat to PSG. This fired me up to enter the transfer market with GCFC. We dumped 89m on 18 players. The goal was to become a diversified squad that could use different tactical systems. After all the FM Tactics [...]

]]>In large part this journey by GCFC to play a 442 began with @Nic Madden who thankfully appeared on one of my shows playing a bog basic 442 with England, without any Team Instructions and only one player instruction assigned to a Goal Keeper. It turned out to be a marvellous match, perhaps Malta may not be the perfect test, however, the transitions England came up with provided me with some precious insight.

There are several ways we can approach the game. We can either become Jose Mourinho or Rafa Benitez and opt to load over team with a myriad of PIs and TIs and get them to play a specific style of football or we can choose to allow the roles to breathe. It was fun and that inspired Mikey to send in his 442 to my channel which we quickly tried. Unfortunately for us, while we managed to close out the league with the title, we fell to a 3-0 defeat to PSG. This fired me up to enter the transfer market with GCFC. We dumped 89m on 18 players. The goal was to become a diversified squad that could use different tactical systems. After all the FM Tactics show that I host on my YT channel is about community tactics. Managers submit their tactics and I use them with tweaks to show how I would either adapt them to my squad, sometimes we use them in their entirety. In most cases the unique requirements of my side mean that frequent tweaks are needed. And the same applied to Mikey’s 442.

Initially this tactic featured an Inverted Wingback. Its a role I love. The IWB is a cross between a playmaker and a fullback. When in possession he takes up a narrow position and is frequently found congesting areas in a central area of the pitch. This gives us options. In order to understand the options and find out how GCFC managed to go on this run, we first need to set up the parameters on how we play with a 442

442 Variation

The Challenges of Playing the 442

Michael Cox has released a brilliant book called “The Mixer”, in it he traces the history of tactics in the premiership. And one of the interesting things about this is how he described the evolution of the 442 played in England. The 442 and the style of play is uniquely English. Huff and puff down the flanks and drop the ball down to the head of a strong striker with a fast striker. Basically that’s the 442 in a nutshell from the early days. Sides like Blackburn and Manchester United showed how this could be played. And in its title winning season, United almost exclusively took this route, however Europe was a different matter. There, players were more technical, they were better on the ball. And they frequently had a man either protecting the backline or someone playing in a hole behind the strikers. Sir Alex Ferguson in his biography describes how their system needed to adapt. United started going strikerless.

The challenge the 442 has is its reliance on the flanks, in that system, no-one really cared about controlling the middle. Arrigo Saachi was different, he believed in controlling the middle of the pitch. Over time, United changed, first with Cantona, and then with Scholes dropping deeper to become a deep lying playmaker in his latter years. While I am taking some liberties condensing the 442 history, my point is this : The 442 needs to control the middle somehow, its weakness is actually the middle. SAF had to change their style of play, by the time Cristiano Ronaldo started banging in the goals, the need for Ruud Van Nistlerooy, slowly decreased. The purchase of Rooney was meant to allow United to play with a striker who could drop a bit deeper allowing the flanks to cut inside. Van Nistelrooy eventually had to leave, and United’s system evolved.

For sides like Leicester City and Atletico Madrid, the benefit of playing the 442 lay with the potential of creating 2 solid banks of four. The challenge was getting the strikers to drop back. Early on in their season Leicester frequently looked like they played a 4-4-2-0. With both their strikers dropping so deep they frequently looked like a 6 in midfield. Faced with having to score goals, it slowly evolved into a 4411 with Vardy frequently seen sitting on the shoulder of the last defender. Madrid would move around as a compact unit, but the same challenges once again faced Madrid. Its notable that neither side could replicate their title winning seasons, its the nature of playing the 442 so defensively that eventually teams figure out how you play. It would surprise me if either Madrid or Leicester were to win a title again, playing exactly the same way.

The challenge for GCFC would be playing our 442 against systems that controlled the middle more effectively.

442 vs 4231 – I need to worry about the impact of their AMC and worry more if their FB’s get involved
442 vs 4132 Narrow – Here the challenge of breaking the dm based defence are further compounded with the potential of conceding goals from counters if their two strikers are released
442 vs 41311 Narrow – The master exploiter of the halfspace. This tactic by the AI allows them to congest as many as 6 players in midfield vs my 2

So for every system we played, we needed versatility, so our 442 had to change slightly for most matches.

HOW OUR 442 PLAYED OUT

Before I begin, let me explain transitional width. A team takes up different width settings at different areas of the pitch. If you are playing on a defensive flexible setting, chances are you are going to be narrow at the back when you are in your third, and the likelihood that your fullbacks step out to engage is not as high as it would be if they are on an attacking mentality.

Another Variation with an IWB

Note how tucked in our fullbacks are on transitional phases in play. While the two central midfielders appear really close together, this combination was a BWM(S) and BWM(D) combination, and I actually was ok with the way the two in the middle held their position, passing options are limited for the ball carrier and we are narrow. The issue when playing on a low setting like this is that you are effectively ceding the flanks. In cases like this I am going to make sure I field really good headers of the ball in my defence, because I am expecting crosses.

The defending positions my team takes up when on Attacking Flexible look almost similar, but during play I usually notice that my fullbacks and wingers are more aggressive at protecting the flanks which makes more sense, considering the higher mentality in the team.

Backline Width on Attacking Flexible

So now that we have established what our transitional width looks like in defence, I start focusing on strategies when playing my 442.

If I am playing against a team which has a flank attack that is extremely potent like Manchester City or Arsenal, then we play on at least Control mentality and we keep a structured shape to encourage more discipline during transitions.

If we are playing against a team that deploys a narrow attack, e.g. the narrow 4231, we play on lower mentality settings to defend the middle. There congested numbers in midfield will surely overpower our 2 central midfielders.

In most cases we will begin on Structured shape, because a 442 could do with the space to work in, and not committing too many players in transitions will also help maintain some defensive integrity. If I feel the need to throw more bodies into transitional attacks, then I will raise shape to fluid. Venturing to very fluid is a risk I am not prepared to take.

I have also covered how you can understand transitions earlier on this blog here.

The Tactic As a Whole

The challenge in playing the 442 lies greatly in adapting to what’s happening on the pitch. Sometimes I seek out a more aggressive style where I deploy an attacking CM with a defensive Midfielder, sometimes I need more control and try to go down the flanks more then I use a combination of BWM on support and defend duties. At other times I see to congest the playable area and then I use a IWB with a W(S) and CM(A) on attack in midfield.

In nearly every case the players have limited Player Instructions. Those that have PIs are listed here:GK – Distribute Quickly, Distribute to FlanksFBs(Both) – Pass it ShorterIWB(if used) – Close down much more/tackle harder – The logic in this lies that if he is out of position and needs to track back and defend, then there is also the chance that he may need to go in early, since that flank is open to a lot of risk

DLP & CM(A) – I really want to use at least a BWM(S) or (D) here, but the problem lies in the fact that my players haven’t learnt the trait “DOES NOT DIVE INTO TACKLES”, so until they learn that trait I need roles that give me the option to reduce hard tackling. So for now they get close down much more and hard tackling. I don’t like it, but it’s a decent compromise.

Making the system compact in defence

We need to use every tool in the game to make ourselves compact defensively, so we have opted to do this via three methods:

1. Play Offside Trap
2. Pushed up Defensive line – ( This instruction will adapt to the speed and skill of the opposition, if their players have better acceleration and anticipation then my players acceleration and positioning then I will play normal)
3. Opposition Instructions

To play the offside trap aggressively we need to put the AI under pressure. This is where OIs become handy since I can opt for a form of zonal closing down that is aggressive but focused zonally instead of giving specific players that instruction. When you give your players specific close down instructions, they may create issues. Here I want to target opposing players specifically so that players closer to their zone can close them down. In conjunction with the offside trap we are also going to press their backline. This will create several side effects:

Opposition Instructions, adjusted every game based on opposition

By closing down their backline, we ensure they are not given time on the ball, this will allow us to pressure them even when they have throw-ins in their half. We can counter attack them after their fail to get their own attacks going. We avoid pressing any AM role, because these have the potential of pulling our backline out of shape. If we maintain a cohesive press on their midfield and their backline, and along with our offside trap, we can play with a forward press that can cause turnovers. In order for us to pull this off effectively, we need players to fulfil certain requirements from an attributes point of view:

All support duties : work rate, determination, stamina, bravery, off the ball. If they don’t have at least 13 for the first team they will not be considered. The league average is 13, so that makes us barely competitive.

Multitasking Roles

Most of my roles need a degree of multitasking

Fullbacks – need to play as IWB on occasion so they will need attributes like decisions, vision, passing too. So these are all converted defensive midfielders

A DM recruited to be an IWB

We went into the transfer market, found this youngster, dropped 7.5m for him and are now retraining him as an IWB. In attack I need my players to have the skills to play as AMs and strikers. My central midfielders need to be quality deep lying playmakers and ball winning midfielders. If we are going to win the title with a 442 there is no room for mediocrity especially if I am going structured. Playing structured puts more of the burden on the individual player so they need to be technical competent enough for me to change roles in a game.

The only roles that I will have to change is the FB(S) on the right, and the two central midfielders. So far our strategy has worked.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PLAYER TRAITS

I can’t stress how important these are to my style of play, I am not saying the players need them, I am saying that we need to know what traits they may have so that we can determine its impact on the system. There are some traits I can afford, we found that out in a draw against Southampton, when I fielded a player in the middle with Comes deeper as a PPM. Now we are hindered by not being able to play BWM because I need my players to learn the PPM – Does not dive into tackles.

Since PPMs >PI>TI, it makes sense that we understand how those PPMs can affect individual roles. I can’t believe how the dropping of Germano for Olmedo turned my 442 around. There are player traits that I plan to include in the tool-kit of the players I expect attacking down the flanks – “Knocks Ball Forward”. I know this PPM is particularly effective with players who have good acceleration. Sides that apply high pressure with closing down and tight marking could overcommit.

It’s important to pay attention to attributes and traits, and I have done a post on why these can be important here. I plan to do a new video on player traits and how you can use them in a youtube video on my channel​​​​​​​ pretty soon.

Update thus far:

Against Arsenal we had to play a control structured system with a FB combination on both flanks because they played a FB-ML/MR combination on both flanks. This was their biggest threats. I was pleased to see how our central midfielders stayed wide enough to protect the centre and support the flanks. And over on the flanks we were very guarded. Although Arsenal played with a wide 4132, my biggest concern was their speed and potency from counters. In Musa and Danaher they had the most lethal scoring combination, with Musa frequently heading to the wings to flight in crosses. By nulling their flank attack, we were able to secure a 3-0 lead by the end of the first half.

This Arsenal team had been devastating with their flank attacks. Their left flank almost felt overpowered with 3 players giving it width. So our strategy to curb the flank threats worked.

We knew going into this match that if we played on a lower mentality, this would gift the flanks to them. It was something we could not afford. So we started the match on Control/Structured and moved it up to Attacking Structured. The increased pressure on the flanks allowed us to get good coverage to break their passing lanes.

In attack my Wide Playmaker would frequently cut inside and the two central midfielders would usually offer themselves up as great passing outlets. With all three having good off the ball, it’s no wonder they found space. Overall their use of only one central midfielder with one DM was probably their undoing, making the job relatively simple for us. This had to be the easiest match against the best scoring team in England.

Wide Playmaker cutting inside and playing narrow

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE IWB system and the non-IWB System

Basically I have two 442s and there are variations in between with respect to how I want my midfield pivots to work. If I am in a particularly defensive position, i.e. the team I am playing against is particularly strong, I will play with a Support/Defend duty combination. I find that Defend/Defend combinations work better in the DM slots. The 4222 Deep works amazingly effectively as well, this system deploys 2 DMs, and if I really wanted two pivots to be holding players for 90 minutes I would rather use 2 DMs. Having two players on defend duties in the central while it looks defensive just offers too little off the ball movement for my liking. Against sides that deploy a 3 man midfield their lack of forward movement could unhinge the middle.

The IWB based system is really cool, when we have possession. The IWB moves into midfield, creating the semblance of the Brazilian box midfield. In attack they play like the box midfield and in defence they drop back into a 442. By playing like this we have created some risk for ourselves as we leave ourselves open on the right flank. During these transitions, it’s vital that the IWB have suitable attributes that allow him to hold on to the ball, which is why I have reconverted DM’s playing here. During the start of the season, there was some uncertainty, players made positional errors. Now though, Zuniga the player I linked earlier is showing the requisite qualities I need playing in the position. It allows us to keep retention of the ball against packed midfields. And here is where we give the option to the other central midfielder to romp forward. In my earlier versions of this system, the CM(A) had the “Drop deeper” ppm which actually added to congestion without offering much by way of attacking options. With a player playing there now without those PPMs we are looking a lot more dangerous. The side effect of using the IWB as we have also found out is the risk we open up by given the AI a numerical advantage on our flanks.

IWB creating a box midfield

I am not too sure if I like the way he closes down sometimes, but its a choice I have consciously made knowing that he may sometimes be out of position. By giving him the PI close down much more he sometimes leaves the defensive line a bit too early like he does here when the AI is entering our half.

IWB Closing down PI influenced

In the final third, the IWB option is interesting, depending on how the AI lines up it can give us options. The IWB option becomes more deadly when the AI is playing a narrow system. Here the IWN is in an advanced position looking to add support and allow the CM control the centre. We have effectively formed a 3 man midfield.

IWB supporting the transition into attack

Against good teams who have solid flank attacks I sometimes default to not using the IWB, instead opting for the safer option of having a FB/Mid pair to protect the flanks. On the occasion that I have used an IWB, failure to control midfield has usually resulted in us conceding goals. So while the IWB option looks interesting, it plays well against some systems and requires particular attention to player attributes. I do feel that its still a stronger option in games where the AI has a better midfield than ours. Against PSG in the champions league final, we used the IWB 442 but were roundly beaten 3-0 as they took advantage of the weaker flanks, so I kinda failed at doing my homework.

Going forward I will be looking at both options, and its not uncommon for me to switch between the two if there is a need to take control of the match and keep the ball from the AI, however the risk is always there that our IWB flank could ship goals.

LESSONS LEARNT

Things haven’t been perfect, while we seem to enjoy playing against most teams. Its those hell bent on staying defensive playing narrow that have given us the most headaches, against

Southampton’s Congested Midfield

Southampton we made the wrong decision to field a BWM(S)(D) pair in midfield it backfired. On top of that we made things worse with an IWB. We played into their hands and it was a mistake, as our plan to release our Winger fell flat. Here we made some fundamental booboos

1. Fielding a CM with the “Likes to Drop deep to get the ball PPM” in a support duty. This just made things worse as we create further isolation issues with our strikers
2. Using an IWB when we needed to use width as an attack weapon against a packed midfield. The match finished 2-2.

FUTURE UPDATES

A few people have asked details on how I play my 442s, thats the reason for this post, its meant to show how I approach games and how I adapt the system on the fly when I am faced with needing to decide how to protect the 442s weaknesses. I do hope this helps some of you and I will update the thread if people need more insight.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/gloucesters-adventures-442/feed/43463Determination is the Mother of all Attributeshttps://www.addictedtofm.com/determination-mother-attributes/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/determination-mother-attributes/#commentsTue, 25 Jul 2017 01:26:54 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3454Determination as a factor has certainly changed in training. This relook at Determination all started when I observed an anomaly in my squad. We had this striker who was 20 years old, who was outperforming even my model professionals in training. It was something I couldn’t quite place. So Herne in the forums decided to go ask Seb a few questions. Seb well he is the guy who’s supposed to know whats happening under the hood. He knows a heckuva lot more than me. And those who know me, know which Seb I am talking about. My fairly determined player that outperformed all my model professionals in FM17 Prior to FM17, the community was united, in one belief, Determination played a minor role in training. In fact, everyone looked for players who had the perfect personality. These included Model Professionals right through to Resolute personalities. The common denominator here was that these personalities all had either high professionalism or high professionalism and good determination. These players once trained under the right conditions would almost always develop ideally. Sweet, life was simple. Problem for me was my anomaly. He was a fairly determined player but he was out stripping the development [...]

]]>Determination as a factor has certainly changed in training. This relook at Determination all started when I observed an anomaly in my squad. We had this striker who was 20 years old, who was outperforming even my model professionals in training. It was something I couldn’t quite place. So Herne in the forums decided to go ask Seb a few questions. Seb well he is the guy who’s supposed to know whats happening under the hood. He knows a heckuva lot more than me. And those who know me, know which Seb I am talking about.

My fairly determined player that outperformed all my model professionals in FM17

Prior to FM17, the community was united, in one belief, Determination played a minor role in training. In fact, everyone looked for players who had the perfect personality. These included Model Professionals right through to Resolute personalities. The common denominator here was that these personalities all had either high professionalism or high professionalism and good determination. These players once trained under the right conditions would almost always develop ideally. Sweet, life was simple.

Problem for me was my anomaly. He was a fairly determined player but he was out stripping the development of my model professionals. For the longest time I have believed that player development is a function of:

This was a simple equation to get my head around. This however did not explain my anomaly. He was part of a team that included 4 resolute players 2 model professionals and 3 professionals. Now how was it possible for him to be outperforming the rest. And to top it off he went through a period where he was generating 6.7 for nearly 2 months, something wasn’t quite adding up. There was something else happening under the hood that was different than in FM16.

Then Herne popped around asking Seb the magical question. Does determination play a big part in training? The answer was a big yes. In fact, Determination is now integral to a players training and progression. You see FM17 has seen under the hood changes to how progression works. To put it in simple terms:

Basically each player is given a potential to progress, this is known as a Progression Score. A higher PS gives a player a higher chance to receive a temporary boost to training known as a Progression Factor.

A player now has the chance to receive a higher bonus to training, every player has the potential to receive this. And this bonus can last for either 1 month or until an in game scenario occurs which could include player transfers for example. This bonus is known as a Progression Factor and it has a range. The higher the factor the quicker he will develop and have a higher Current Ability cap for that period of time. There are many variables that go into calculating this Progression Score and these include: Determination, Professionalism and Ambition.

To put this in the simplest terms that would explain my anomaly:

A player with high determination has the potential to receive good progression provided certain factors are met. This could include positive performances, playing time, personality and ambition. So it would seem that now, determination is the mother of all attributes.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/determination-mother-attributes/feed/63454Thank you for bringing us this farhttps://www.addictedtofm.com/thank-bringing-us-far/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/thank-bringing-us-far/#respondWed, 26 Apr 2017 11:12:06 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3426First a few words from our Patrons: From one of our viewers Fantastic growth A regular Patron on Discord So we’ve hit 270 patreon in less than half a year. That in itself is a fantastic achievement, and I am so glad that there are so many out there who believe in what I’ve been doing in the last few months. Patreon is basically a ‘crowd-funding’ site that keeps you going with contributions from the wider community who value your content. And I feel valued. So I want to thank all of you. So a heads up first. In May, I will be releasing my 2nd book, which is meant to be a free giveaway to all the loyal patrons who have supported me from the start and there are a staggering 240 of you out there. Wow. What we do on Patreon is very simple. We have several tiers at the very lowest tier, you’re just contributing with no expectation of any kind of reward and we even have a few there. At the highest tier which is now sold out, we do 1 to 1 coaching, where we spend an hour twice a month going through the game [...]

So we’ve hit 270 patreon in less than half a year. That in itself is a fantastic achievement, and I am so glad that there are so many out there who believe in what I’ve been doing in the last few months. Patreon is basically a ‘crowd-funding’ site that keeps you going with contributions from the wider community who value your content. And I feel valued. So I want to thank all of you. So a heads up first. In May, I will be releasing my 2nd book, which is meant to be a free giveaway to all the loyal patrons who have supported me from the start and there are a staggering 240 of you out there. Wow.

What we do on Patreon is very simple. We have several tiers at the very lowest tier, you’re just contributing with no expectation of any kind of reward and we even have a few there. At the highest tier which is now sold out, we do 1 to 1 coaching, where we spend an hour twice a month going through the game to increase your understanding. And that tier has also has the ability to drive the show, which is how I ended up with a Gloucester save. Most tiers get a copy of the free book, some tiers get invited to monthly hangouts where we chat about the game, and finally everyone gets access to our private Discord channel, and this is where it gets interesting.

Our Discord channel has rooms where we host links to exclusive videos created by myself of which there are nearly 50 covering a range of subjects in great detail, and there are even videos by other creators. On top of that, we have a surging community who help each other out in the best way possible. Its fantastic. I wanted to grow a community that would be so good at the game, that they would be the driving force that helps SI push the game further, and I have to say this group is getting stronger by the day. The challenge that SI have with the game is the number of players who can play at the highest level of difficulty – and there aren’t that many. Now though, I feel silently confident that we can eventually get there.

I would like to thank one and all for their continued support, you make it worthwhile.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/thank-bringing-us-far/feed/03426Building a squad to winhttps://www.addictedtofm.com/building-squad-win/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/building-squad-win/#commentsTue, 04 Apr 2017 03:15:01 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3411This is a chapter from the 2nd guide I will be releasing very soon for Football Manager. It goes into detail on how we can set up squads in Football Manager. I typically find that most people can build a decent tactic, but where most fall short is adapting to the AI. This means that they don’t even why a particular transition fails. Why did the fullback not close down, or why did central midfielder just ice-skate through my defence. The key to working out transitions actually lie in the elements of squad building and how you set your squad up for each match you play. I make adjustments to my squad overtime I play a game and these are usually because of the strengths of the AI manager. And I find this is especially important when managing an LLM squad. SQUAD BUILDING So do you build a tactic around your squad or do you build a team around your system? You always need to make the latter your goal, and there is a basic reason why. When you build a tactic around the squad you have, you’re always going to be in band-aid mode. This means that you’re trying [...]

]]>This is a chapter from the 2nd guide I will be releasing very soon for Football Manager. It goes into detail on how we can set up squads in Football Manager. I typically find that most people can build a decent tactic, but where most fall short is adapting to the AI. This means that they don’t even why a particular transition fails. Why did the fullback not close down, or why did central midfielder just ice-skate through my defence. The key to working out transitions actually lie in the elements of squad building and how you set your squad up for each match you play. I make adjustments to my squad overtime I play a game and these are usually because of the strengths of the AI manager. And I find this is especially important when managing an LLM squad.

SQUAD BUILDING

So do you build a tactic around your squad or do you build a team around your system? You always need to make the latter your goal, and there is a basic reason why.

When you build a tactic around the squad you have, you’re always going to be in band-aid mode. This means that you’re trying to shoe horn your players into a particular system. Its not ideal and you frequently need to make compromises. Regardless of budgetary constraints, you need to find a way to build a team into the kind of system you want to play. Many people have told me that they find this impossible in certain cases.

They could have taken over a club and discovered that the board has given them no wage budget and worse still, every loan signing they’ve made is uselss. Let’s face it most loan signings can be terminated, so you still have a window to make a number of changes. You could be left with no wage budget, but you should still be able to fit a side around a system. There are certain golden rules I follow to make things simple when I want to choose who plays for me:

THE SWING ATTRIBUTES

Bravery – Determination – Work Rate

For me when all things are equal, these attributes are the swing factor. Sometimes these attributes are the very first I look at. For certain duties, these are absolutely vital.

Bravery

Without this attribute, a player won’t go into a challenge, or dive into a header. They affect offensive and defensive situations. A 50-50 ball, becomes a certainty for the opposition AI. So, when it comes to support players, Bravery is a swing factor. If you have less than 8, you have no place in my side as a Support duty. And this duty is huge, because it affects you during transitions. You can’t improve bravery, sometimes it may be ok for a striker to have low bravery, but in those tight matches where lunging into a cross is important, this attribute could swing the result the wrong way. So I never pick players with low bravery.

This becomes especially true for LLM saves, low bravery means no squad number. And it gets really tough in LLM football, which means I trial the hell out of the world.

Work Rate

If you are looking for a team to give you lung bursting work, then high stamina and natural fitness are not enough, you need work rate. And a good dose of it. Nothing less than the league average. This attribute defines whether a player is capable of covering every blade of grass, twice. A player with stamina may do it, but a player with low work rate will never do it.

Determination

Are you fighting to the last minute for an equaliser? Are you urging on a support player to cover miles of grass? Do you want the player to work hard during a game when you are a goal down? Do you want players who are willing to fight for a point? Then you need determination. For me, this is the most important attribute for any team. It gets especially important for sides that are planning to over achieve.

A player may have anticipation and positioning, but if he doesn’t have the determination to get back in time, then transitions may fail due to his lack of desire. This makes it one of the most important swing attributes in the game.

These 3 attributes together form the core requirements for any side that wishes to play with ANY kind of block. If you are looking for players to defend from the front, then the front liners need all these attributes. If you want your midfield to come back and work hard all the time then you need them to have it too. In fact, whenever I build my squad these are always the first 3 attributes I zoom into.

Once you have isolated the players that fit the mould of the battling warrior, then you go and start shortlisting players. I always have a few rules for these too.

Rule 1

More central midfielders are always better than more wingers.

There are more systems that control midfield with central midfielders in the game than there are with wingers. You can also take central midfielders and play them as playmakers, defensive midfielders, box to box midfielders and sometimes even wingers. You usually can’t do the same with wingers. Furthermore, most good wingers are low on technical skills like marking and tackling.

Rule 2

More fullbacks are better than wingers.

Full backs are one of the more versatile positions in the game, they can be retrained as wing backs and as wingers. And they can tackle. They are also incredibly versatlile positions in any system. Furthermore, if you can build a system with good full backs, then you can build really good attacking and controlling systems. Full backs give you incredible width and they can tackle.

Rule 3

Always have at least one striker who has strength and good first touch.

Having a striker who can hold up the ball, gives us options up front. Isf he has the Swing Attributes, then you also have a final third bully. Imagine having a “Diego Costa” bullying an opponents back line. These players can work well with pacey off strikers and can bring others into play. Their ability to hold the ball up will give your sides time to build attacks. If they fail to hold up the ball, you will be a victim to quick transitions. Its very dangerous losing a ball in the final third transition off a player who is trying to hold up the ball and is unsuited to the role.

Rule 4

Great mentals are important for central defenders

Always try to get one defender or select one defender who has great positioning, marking anticipation and concentration. This defender will usually be the one racking up the interceptions. Eventually SI will rework how interceptions are calculated in the game, but for now, you need a defender who can read the game. If you have two fast defenders and neither can read the game, then you will usually end up praying they run faster, which is usually never a good thing.

Now that we have sorted out some requirements lets start building the rest of the squad. Lets start with the core support players.

In the book I have listed out them out as Destroyers, Supporters and Creators, or something along those lines. Essentially we want at least a few attributes that are core. The Swing attributes form the core for all of them.

For the Destroyers you need to add acceleration, anticipation, tackling and concentration.

For the Supporters you need to add teamwork, passing, tackling, first touch and decisions

For the Creators you need to add, decisions, passing, crossing, first touch.

For strikers it goes without saying they need finishing and composure.

When you have isolated these attributes you will notice one thing, there are a large number of systems your team can now play.

At this point, I am expecting some of you to say :”You don’t have any wingers, so how can you play some of these systems?”

The game is versatile, it allows you to play someone out of position. So long as they have the attributes for the job, it will get done. You can retrain him for the position, but you should never allow the player to dictate what you can and cannot do. You need to get creative with some of the roles in the game. Let’s take one example:

Is he versatile enough?

This happens to be on of my central midfielders, he has decent off the ball, and has average crossing and dribbling, but he has no acceleration to speak of. However his anticipation and tackling make him a good choice as a wide midfielder who can play on support. I can expect him to get up to support and drop deep to defend. Knowing he doesn’t have great acceleration will mean I don’t need to think of him as an attack duty, or I could give him the attack duty but tell him or the team to hit early crosses.

Now that you have shortlisted your squad its time for you to think about the tactical system you will be using with them. Essentially whatever system you create has to control either one or both zones. This immediately gives systems with a Defensive Midfieder and Attacking Midfielders an edge.

The Golden Zones

Sometimes you will end up ceding control of specific areas to get this done. For example, a 442 narrow diamond would give up some measure of control of the flanks in order for the system to control the middle. Deciding what system you can use sometimes becomes the harder choice. Here I would recommend that you stay away from a 442. In the image above, these are the two zones that need to be controlled for the 442 to succeed. To exploit a 442 or any system we need to identify the weak areas of the system and take advantage of it.

The 442 fails to control any zone effectively apart from the flanks, but controlling this area of the pitch also limits the kind of football you can play. Any attempt to play a more attacking role in the final third through the middle weakens your centre. So unless you have very good players, you would probably be better off playing a system like a 41221, 451, 4312 or even a 4231 Each one of these systems seeks to control some part of the pitch with more players.

Now having already followed certain rules with player selections you would now have a squad with more central midfielders, this will give you more options to control the middle. What you need to do now is study how the opposition AI sets itself up for its games before you decide how you want to play against it. The reason why I find this game so easy, is because I make slight role and duty adjustments in matches to account for the AI’s system, and this will the focus of the next post. How do you set your squad to win the match by adapting to the AI’s strengths.

In a later post I will talk about identifying clues in matches that give us an idea of how to make small adjustments in our system. We don’t need to make wholesale changes we just need to learn how to give ourselves a chance. For more information on exclusive videos that I’ve released on this subject and more please visit here for more information.

]]>https://www.addictedtofm.com/building-squad-win/feed/33411Why do so many get the basics wrong on FM17?https://www.addictedtofm.com/get-basics-right-fm17/
https://www.addictedtofm.com/get-basics-right-fm17/#respondFri, 24 Mar 2017 08:36:47 +0000https://www.addictedtofm.com/?p=3379GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT -FM17 Over the years I’ve noticed trends, and these are repeated everytime. And almost everyone does it, even today on FM17. People tend to look for certain rules of behavior in the game that make it repeatable. So if A leads to B some of the time, then people tend to associate it and then draw conclusions for future behavior. Fact is, it’s a waste of time. There has always been a really simple way of playing the game, I’m frequently surprised why people go through all the effort in making the game more complicated than it has to be. We used to have the Rule of One, then it was the Rule of Two, I could list all of them, but then some of you reading this may start thinking about making other rules, then we’d all end up in the same place again. I’ve even written a book on Football Manager called “Bust the Net – A football managers’ guide” that tries to help people play the game in the simplest way I can think off, and even that took 200 pages of effort. And after 2 years I lost count of the number [...]

Over the years I’ve noticed trends, and these are repeated everytime. And almost everyone does it, even today on FM17. People tend to look for certain rules of behavior in the game that make it repeatable. So if A leads to B some of the time, then people tend to associate it and then draw conclusions for future behavior. Fact is, it’s a waste of time. There has always been a really simple way of playing the game, I’m frequently surprised why people go through all the effort in making the game more complicated than it has to be. We used to have the Rule of One, then it was the Rule of Two, I could list all of them, but then some of you reading this may start thinking about making other rules, then we’d all end up in the same place again. I’ve even written a book on Football Manager called “Bust the Net – A football managers’ guide” that tries to help people play the game in the simplest way I can think off, and even that took 200 pages of effort. And after 2 years I lost count of the number of videos I’ve done on Youtube that try and simplify the game.

I’ve been pleading with everyone to keep thinking about the game in simple terms since 2003. And to be honest the heights of simplicity reached its peak in 03/4 and then again in 2015. In 03/04 match engine flaws allowed exploitation, hence its simplicity. Stick in a tactic, go on holiday, collect the trophy then sign a couple of players and repeat the cycle. It wouldn’t matter which club you managed, you’d win. By 2015, we’d been playing the game without those sliders for a good 3 years but it was still fundamentally easy. You could still go on long seasons undefeated, this time though you just needed the right attribute combination and your tactics had to respect what I had termed in closed beta sessions as the “Golden Mean“. There was an optimum mentality/closing down/defensive line combination in the game, get it right and you were back in your string of undefeated sessions. I racked up 500. Rinse and repeat, we started hollering again. Shape needed to be tweaked. SI listened and changed Shape. Lo and behold, the game was now a lot more interesting. 500 unbeaten quickly dropped to 50. You could still get long undefeated stretches with a really good side, but now it was at least a bit more challenging.

The effect on the average game was now profound.

Before all this happened, FM gamers were used to a less complicated style of play. Pick a team, choose a tactic, make the occassional change, win or draw. If your side took a lead, maybe the AI would switch to overload in the last 10 minutes to try and equalise. It was a simple situation. Things started changing in 2015, this time the AI adapted. The AI didn’t simply change tactics, it would change roles, make tactical subsitutions and even changed mentality and shape. Finally, we had a match on our hands. You see prior to 2015, the AI was a backseat passenger to your ambitions. It was there as your punching bag. Today the AI knows how to give as good as it gets. Maybe in the future, the AI will won’t draw as much and will make a real go of it. It is getting there, the problem is most of the gaming community is still struggling to handle this. You see, the majority are too scared to make changes to a system they think is winning. Win 10 games and you immediately think that this run will continue and the AI won’t adapt. All you needed were better players. If this were to happen in real life, we’d be living on Mars and sun tanning. Face it, to become good in the game you do need loads of trial and error. You need to try different things out.

Most FM17 managers I speak to in today’s game, want to know what settings make a good tactic. They want to know the settings needed to get counter-pressing done, or the settings needed to replicate Maurizo’s Sarri’s Napoli system in the game. People still think there is a magical combination of instructions that will get this happening. Yes, you will start well, in fact, I believe with the right players and instructions, you could probably go half a season undefeated, but then like all teams in real life, they start studying your system for weaknesses. They start playing differently against you. Maybe they’ll find a bigger bus to park in front of their goal. Fact is, in real life, teams adapt. The AI has learnt to adapt too. So what should you do to keep this game simple?

1. Be Realistic

In reality, if a side from the lower leagues were to suddenly go charging up the leagues securing promotion every season, the authorities would probably dope test the team, after every game, and then question the dope testing procedures for failing to find anything wrong. The team would either need a brilliant manager, loads of money or fantastic long term planning.

If we think that one tactic and a solid team of players is all it takes to make rapid promotion a reality then we are sorely mistaken. You need to be the kind of manager who has no emotional attachments to players and a willingness to change roles and duties in games to adapt to changes in the environment. You need to see a weakness in the AI and then make changes to exploit it or you need to learn how to build bigger buses. If you are attacking the AI down the right side, there is a strong chance the AI will either shore up that side or look to play direct behind your attacking players to take advantage of the spaces you leave behind.

Playing LLM football is the pinnacle of a difficult challenge.You need to be a master of adapting to circumstances and not be a slave to habit. If you can’t adapt then you need to manage a bigger team and take an easier challenge, or just go hire Bobby Mimms and go on holiday. Yes Mr Mimms is still better at getting results than most human managers in the game.

2. Get the Basics Right

Most people seem to think, their choice of roles and duties or even the shouts are the root the cause of their problems. To be perfectly honest, every person I’ve coached gets attributes wrong. Yes, when I say basics, I am talking about choosing the right player for the right role. And that means attributes. What do you think is the most important attribute in the game?

Now what is the most important attribute for a defender? Now ask yourself what you think is the most important attribute for a defensive midfielder or a holding midfielder, what about a creative playmaker or even a goal scorer?

Attributes are the fundamental building blocks in the game. There are basically three attributes in the entire game I consider “swing attributes”. These attributes will probably define how successful your team is the whole season.

Once you understand which attributes are important for which roles, then start asking yourself how you want to play. Understand how roles help you achieve things in the game with your tactics.

If you don’t get attributes and roles right, how will you ever know why something fails to happen in a game? I have often heard how people struggle to get their crosses released early, people often point towards a failure in the game. Funny thing, in my latest season with Gloucester, we had a winger and an attacker on such a finely tuned channel of communication that I was left dumbfounded at the number of times the two would combine for goals delivered from direct crosses in moves that lasted less than 5 passes in total. This was possible because of the right combination of roles and duties. Interestingly neither player had specific passing instructions.

Do you know that a games style can be changed entirely with the right use of roles and duties? Mentality acts as a risk barometer in the game and guides a teams decision making. Shape helps distribute it and affects transitions, but roles and duties help define your teams playstyle.

In this attacking combination, the final third play will be slow as the ball reaches the playmaker. Even if it gets to the DLP he will drop deep and try and make passes to the others as they seek to bring each other into play.

Deep Dropping Attack Configuration on FM17

The attacking variety changes when we change it to an AF(A), IF(S), W(A) combination. Now their roles and duties will encourage more attacking play down the flanks. With the W(A) down the right the AF(A) will have someone on the same wavelength.

So far you haven’t heard me offer up any solutions and by now you are probably getting frustrated, so let’s get down to it. How do you play FM17 in a quick 7 step guide?

Begin with a side that suits your ability level.

Do you want your side to fight until the end? Then make sure you pick Determination as the most important attribute. This attribute plays a big part when your side is a goal down and chasing a point.

In terms of priority:

Choose your squad based on Determination first. Weed out the weak.

Define your play-style. For every player you expect coming back to defend ensure they have high workrate and stamina

Choose your tactic. Understand how it applies pressure, can it do a good job in the final third or is it one of those that defends well. For example, a 4213 with dual defensive midfielders is fantastic defensively, a 4231 can be devastating in the opponents half. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Know which areas of the tactic are weak. Now its time to focus on transitions

Now that you know where to pay attention to, make sure you know what it takes for each role to work. This means you need to know what attributes define their playstyle well, my book lists each one out.

However for simplcity sake, let us simplify that:

Defensive players need good mentals like positioning and anticipation, Support players need good workrate, teamwork, first touch, composure, and, attacking players need good first touch, passing, decisions. These are attributes they need at the very basic level.

During a failed transition, for you to become a truly good player, you will need to know which attributes could have influenced that failed transition. If you aren’t willing to invest time into trial and error to figure these things out, then you need to be prepared to accept the inevitable bad run of form.

Everyone is capable of getting a good run going with nearly every team. When the bad run begins it’s usually down to two reasons. Either you lose players to injury or the AI has begun adapting. The AI will make changes to its system. I have seen the AI shore up a weak flank, or attack me down a vulnerable area. It will try to win, and in future iterations of the game it will work even harder to win. So either we need to develop a winning methodology or we need to accept bad runs. If you are the type who is uncomfortable with adapting, then you need to accept a run of bad form otherwise get the basics right.